Peugeot 504 4x4 by Dangel

Let me tell you a tale as old as the auto industry itself.

A carmaker builds a vehicle. Some third party company, in no way affiliated with the carmaker, modifies the vehicle in a significant way. Then, the carmaker pretends—in perpetuity—that this modified version doesn't exist.

1980, however, was an exception: an automaker actually embraced a design that came from outside its orbit.

Including three years of development, proving itself in the Paris-Dakar Rally, and a public debut at the 1980 Paris Motor Show, Peugeot did a deal to add Dangel 4x4 models to the official 504 lineup.

Does this rapid acceptance ever happen in the car industry? No, not really.

An official endorsement from Peugeot while near the height of its powers is all I need to know: and Dangel 4x4s are oh-so desirable because of it.

After a start as a privateer racing driver and small constructor, French entrepreneur Henry Dangel turned to more lucrative product lines. His first and only production car, the Mangouste, I've written about here.

How special is the Dangel Peugeot 504? It was designed to deliver everything we'd expect in a modern crossover: comfort, economy, practicality, style—with off-road capability best described as Paris-Dakar.

The brilliance of Henri Dangel’s Peugeot 504 conversion is that he didn’t really turn the 504 into a traditional off-roader. He preserved the thing that made the 504 so good in the first place (a comfortable, spacious, fundamentally ordinary passenger car) and added serious off-road hardware underneath it.

Beginning around 1980, Dangel’s 504 Break 4x4 gained a two-speed transfer case, permanent four-wheel drive, limited-slip differentials front and rear, reinforced front suspension and considerably more ground clearance. The brochures claim 235 mm beneath the front and 215 mm at the rear, with approach and departure angles of 45 and 30 degrees respectively. Its body, interior and much of the underlying Peugeot remained reassuringly familiar.

Spy the body-coloured front wheel arches and marvel at how elegantly it was done. Rather than lifting a 504 and dangling another driven axle underneath, Dangel mounted the transmission and suspension hardware to a reinforced structure beneath the original body.